Kicking it in Standard

Jacob Van LunenWednesday, February 24, 2010

elcome to Multikicker Week here on magicthegathering.com! Multikicker is a new mechanic whose roots go all the way back to Invasion. Kicker was a mechanic that allowed us to spend some extra mana and get a bonus with our spell. Multikicker allows us to kick a spell any number of times and get an additional bonus for each time we pay the cost. New mechanics like this are great for a number of reasons. Kicker was a popular mechanic since its conception, and popular again on its return in Zendikar. Kicker is simple, elegant, and fun. Multikicker is simply an extension of its predecessor. The mechanic is very easy to understand because most players were already familiar with it.

I want to build a few decks this week that capture the absurd potential of Multikicker.

Green Multikicker!

The first deck I would like to discuss is a mono-green deck. Green has all the tools it needs to make a lot of mana at a very early stage in the game. Khalni Heart Expedition, Rampant Growth, and Harrow all seem like great ways to make a lot of payments on the multikicker of Wolfbriar Elemental. I decided that I should build a deck that focused entirely on building its mana through the early stages of the game. I can afford to spend the valuable second and third turns developing my mana, because each threat in the deck requires a Day of Judgment all by itself.

This deck has some pretty absurd draws. I decided to play a few games against my friend.

My friends and I recently built a five-color creature deck. We were inspired by a player at the Worldwake Prerelease who let me borrow a similar deck to play against people who had brought Standard decks. I had a blast with the deck and rattled off ten straight match wins with it. This list is not budget, but I figured my reader base might be interested in a fun new Standard archetype. Here's what I played against:

My opponent attacked with Woolly Thoctar and Bloodbraid Elf, and I quadruple-blocked the Thoctar and double-blocked the Bloodbraid Elf, losing three tokens. My opponent used his second main phase to cast a Baneslayer Angel. I drew a Forest, played it, pumped all my tokens, and cast Wolfbriar Elemental, kicked five times. I put a 4/4 and five 2/2s onto the table. I passed the turn. My opponent drew for his turn, cast a Woolly Thoctar, and passed. I drew Terastodon, cast it, destroyed my Everflowing Chalice and two of my lands, made three 3/3 tokens, and passed the turn. My opponent cast a Rhox War Monk and passed the turn. I drew a land, attacked with my 9/9, played my land pumping all my Plant tokens, and passed the turn. My opponent simply drew and passed. I drew Harrow, attacked with my team, and used Harrow to pump my Plant tokens.

I certainly got lucky in this first match. My friend was able to beat me in the next two matches. The games were close, but Baneslayer Angel is very hard for this deck to beat in the first game. Hopefully these matches helped explain just how absurd multikicker can be if you build a deck to abuse it.

White-Blue Multikicker!

The next deck I would like to look at is a white-blue deck that abuses the power of multikicker. The first thing I thought about when I saw Everflowing Chalice was the amazing synergy it had with Martial Coup. I wanted to build a deck that abused this incredible synergy. Lightkeeper of Emeria also seems like a great way to stay in the game against aggressive decks. Here's the list.

My opponent drew a fifth land and cast Mind Sludge for five, and I discarded all my cards except the Mind Spring. I drew a Plains for my turn, played my land, cast Mind Spring for seven and refilled my hand before attacking for 5. My opponent drew a sixth land and played another Mind Sludge. Luckily for me, I had drawn into the second copy. I discarded the rest of my hand and took my turn. I drew Lightkeeper of Emeria, played Mind Spring for seven again, played a land, attacked for 5, and passed the turn. My opponent played a Vampire Nocturnus and passed. I had an Oblivion Ring in my hand so I decided to take away his only threat and attack for 5 again. I played a land and passed the turn with Cancel up. My opponent tried for a spell and I played Cancel. I drew for my turn and cast Lightkeeper of Emeria kicked seven times. I gained 14 life and was attacking for lethal the next turn, so my opponent conceded.

This is another exciting deck that abuses the power of multikicker. I hope you all enjoyed my exploration of Worldwake's exciting new keyword.

If you have not had the chance to read the Pro Tour–San Diego coverage I strongly urge all of you to do so. The Top 8 was filled with really exciting decks; There was a White Weenie deck built around Stoneforge Mystic and an Esper deck built around Open the Vaults. Luis Scott-Vargas, probably the best player in the game right now, was playing Cunning Sparkmage with Basilisk Collar! The coverage was really well done and I'm sure you would all enjoy it.